THOMAS: I PUSHED IT TOO FAR WITH THE WEIGHT LOSS

According to the welsh rider, Geraint Thomas, he pushed his weight loss effort too far in his pursuit of perfection.

The rider from Team Sky has said that the preparation for the tour had caused his extreme weight loss has put him at a disadvantaged position for the 2017 season.

In the weeks leading to the race, Thomas had been marked as the team’s plan B with Chris Froome, the defending champion expected to lead. Thomas had gone on to put up a good performance as he won at Paris but could not maintain that result as he finished at the 17th position at the tour of Romandie also known as tour de Suisse.

Commenting on this disparity between results, he said:

“Suisse wasn’t great and it certainly knocked my confidence but looking back I could see the mistakes I made with losing too much weight, too quickly, while doing loads of training.”

“That just took me a while to regroup mentally as well as physically. Going into the tour I wasn’t sure how I was going to ride. My weight had been up and down and it wasn’t what I was used to.

“When I’ve gone to the tour before, I’ve been confident but this year it was totally different. I just pushed it too far with the weight loss, losing it a bit too quickly,” he added.

He explained that the cause for his weight loss was the rigorous and intense training he faced together with the excessive travelling. Humorously, he said:

“Well, I’m welsh, so I’m used to the rain but it was tough after seven days of that. I was drained and it really knocked my confidence especially after being second in that race the year before. I was too eager and just pushed it too much.”